An Agreement Between Pawns
by Voices of Insanity
Summary: Oneshot, set during The End. Slade and Raven are more alike in their differences than either realize. It's a shame they're both doomed.


The moment a hairsbreadths away from her destiny, Raven had felt a sort of kinship with her companion, brought about by their cold exchange. She paused, lips tight. His mask revealed nothing, but empathy told her he understood, had probably once put others into situations similar to theirs himself, and despite that…Well, no, Slade was anything but a sympathetic man. Still, the pallid girl felt that buried beneath carefully concealed desperation and determination, the mastermind knew he was a pawn, and like the gem he had been escorting, powerless to change it.

Raven understood the sentiment well, her life having been deeply embedded with it. That connection was enough to bleed the ruthlessness out of her taut form; Slade would get his just desserts soon enough, Trigon would see to that, she was sure. The half demon did not need to sully her hands further with his blood. Sharply, the former hero turned and continued forward, her bodyguards following only as long as the gem was obedient. Raven felt quiet emotions clench her gut. The desire to hurt the man brought a startling parallel between her and her father that terrified her, and the arrogance that Slade displayed so casually stoked anger within her. However, more than anything it was depressing to know that a man so strong and intelligent could be annihilated so simply.

Slade, for his part, neither enjoyed his mission and subsequent servitude (although the benefits were rewarding) nor did he despise it. The dead man held no fondness for the child—young woman, really—whose life he was to deliver up. He thought it rather poetic; the end of her life, for the beginning of his own. The thought would have made him smile, had he any lips to do so with. A bitter taste filled his mouth as he watched her retreating form with fleshless eyes, even as intelligence told him it was purely psychological. His gaze caught the gold ring lying silent on the stone ground. Teenage girls seemed to cause him all sorts of difficulties.

He had not been surprised when the power he had wielded so freely was turned on him by Trigon, but was unsettled and enraged nevertheless. Curses invaded his mind, along with a strong resolution: don't go down without a fight, because there is nothing left to lose. It was the sole thought that encompassed a strong mind, until the familiar touch of not-anything filled his bones.

Later, as Raven walked right into the palm of Fate's hand, in the moment before nothingness encased her mind, she willed a silent gift to her friends, their desperate pleas long drowned out by the whirring of blood in her ears caused by adrenaline and grief. Out of that wrenched heart, a miniscule thought surfaced, and she remembered that brief bond.

Slade confronted Robin and the other brats shortly after the end of the world. He had survived being incinerated (again) and had not become stone, like the rest of the Earth. Like his former, traitorous protégé. The Titans' uncultured defiance annoyed him, and he found himself wishing for cold, blunt sarcasm instead of tortured hopelessness and righteous fury. He could have made the trip alone, but an alliance with the bird boy facilitated matters. And that girl—a brush of Azar's light had shielded him from apocalypse. Her gift, unwitting or not, had done its job. Her power was the reason these children were still mobile. It wouldn't do to owe her anything; he had more pressing issues to deal with, such as having to reestablish superiority in the underground lost after his death, to risk her spilling her involvement in his survival, if she even knew herself. It would be safest for him if she remained dead, but those do-gooders would inevitably find a way to revive her. If he was involved in that process, Raven would keep her silence. Slade would owe the demon nothing, and he could return to his solitude and ambitions without the memory of the teen's sultry voice, enhanced by its indifference, to mock him.

There was an understanding between them, after all.

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Author's Note: It has been a while since I've seen these episodes. I don't remember if we were ever told how Slade aquired a Ring of Azar. If we were, please tell me in which episode, so I can reference it. Thanks for reading!


End file.
